Crossrail delayed: Elizabeth line to open at least nine months late in autumn 2019

Hatty Collier31 August 2018

The opening of London's new east-west railway Crossrail has been delayed by at least nine months until autumn 2019.

More time is needed to complete "final infrastructure and extensive testing" to ensure a "safe and reliable railway" is delivered, a spokesman for Crossrail Limited said.

Services were due to begin running by December but the central section between Paddington and Abbey Wood will not be opened until autumn 2019.

Simon Wright, Crossrail Chief Executive said: “The Elizabeth line is one of the most complex and challenging infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the UK and is now in its final stages.

In pictures: the progress of Crossrail project

1/36

"We have made huge progress with the delivery of this incredible project but we need further time to complete the testing of the new railway. We are working around the clock with our supply chain and Transport for London to complete and commission the Elizabeth line.”

Crossrail Limited described the 10-year project as "hugely complex", stating that the original timetable for testing has been reduced by contractors needing more time to complete work in the central tunnels and develop software.

The firm insisted that "the focus remains" on opening the full east-west line "as soon after the central tunnels open as possible".

Rail minister Jo Johnson announced last month that the scheme's budget has been increased from £14.8 billion to £15.4 billion due to "cost pressures".

New construction images show Elizabeth line progress

1/20

The railway is known as Crossrail during the construction phase but will become the Elizabeth line once services begin.

When it is fully opened, trains will run from Reading and Heathrow in the west through 13 miles of new tunnels to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

Analysis

by Julian Glover

It’s the flagship project that everyone wanted to be involved in - and which was meant to prove that Britain could build things on time and on budget. It was set to be opened by the Queen and named after her too. But today London’s transport bosses finally came clean on what’s been an industry secret for weeks. The Crossrail project is overbudget and very late.

The first passenger trains were supposed to run through the massive new tunnels under central London this December. Instead they won’t run until at least the autumn of next year - and the full completion of the project to places such as Heathrow airport will be pushed back even further. This isn’t just a small hitch it is a humiliation and it will lead to big questions - not least why both the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling and London’s Mayor have been silent about it. Did they know? If so, what have they been doing to sort it out?

What’s gone wrong? The answer is that building the tunnels is one thing - that went well. Turning them into a living, modern rail system ready to welcome trains, staff and passengers is another. Hooking the new tunnels up to old rail networks at either end has proved much harder than anyone expected - the new British-built trains aren’t yet working with signalling on existing routes to Heathrow, for instance. And some stations such as Whitechapel aren’t yet finished. It wouldn’t have been safe to run trains, even if it was technically possible.

This is a big blow to a city already fearing the consequences of Brexit next year and it’s tough too on everyone who bought property close to new Crossrail stations. There will be fury not just at the delay but at the lack of warning. It will take a lot to rebuild trust. Crossrail bosses were desperate to avoid the delay - but with just weeks left until trains were supposed to run on December 9, time simply ran out.

Fares on the Elizabeth Line will match Tube prices across most of London, but Heathrow passengers will be charged a premium.

Travelling between the airport and zone 1 in central London at peak times will cost £12.10 - £7 more than the same journey on the Piccadilly line.

Passengers travelling between zone 2 and the airport will pay a Heathrow premium of £4.50 compared with the Tube.

Crossrail journeys everywhere else within zones 1-6 will cost the same as pay-as-you-go fares on the Tube.

New Elizabeth line trains are already operating between Shenfield and Liverpool Street and between Paddington and Hayes ahead of the full opening.

Originally, trains were set to begin operating from Paddington to Abbey Wood through the new central London tunnels in December of this year.

Elizabeth line services between Paddington and Shenfield were expected to start in May 2019 and the full through service was due to be in place by the end of that year.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT